One generalist or several specialist species? Wide host range and diverse manipulations of the hosts’ web building behaviour in the true spider parasitoid Zatypota kauros (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae)

• Authors: KORENKO Stanislav; SPASOJEVIC Tamara; PEKÁR Stanislav; WALTER Gimme; KORENKOVA Vlasta; HAMOUZOVA Katerina; KOLAROVA Michaela; KYSLIKOVA Kristyna; KLOPFSTEIN Seraina
• Year of publication: 2018
• Type: Article in Periodical
• Magazine / Source: INSECT CONSERVATION AND DIVERSITY
• MU Faculty or unit: Faculty of Science
• Web: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/icad.12307
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/icad.12307
• Keywords: Hymenoptera; parasitoid; Araneae
• Description: Parasitoid wasps of the Polysphincta genus-group are highly specialised on their spider hosts, and most of them are known to manipulate their hosts into building a special web in which the parasitoid pupates. Trophic niche and the plasticity of host use were investigated in the koinobiont parasitoid Zatypota kauros Gauld from Queensland, Australia. We found that Z. kauros attacks spider hosts from different families, each differing widely in their web-building behaviours, which makes it unique in the breadth of its host range.